Holly Herndon – Movement

Share this:

Its remarkable when a piece of music causes you to question familiar, unconscious actions — the slight curve of a back against a chair, the shudder of a breath as it leaves the body as an exhale. Even more astounding is when those subtleties are crafted with simply two elements: a laptop and a human voice. For the breathy Holly Herndon, a doctoral student in electronic music studies at Stanford, the laptop is intrinsic to the craft.

Inevitably, were in an era where an alarming facility to create music, particularly within electronic and dance, exists. Virtually no divide stands in between Ableton and the airwaves anymore; all you need is a laptop and a medium for consumption. Yet its the attention to the subliminal effects of electronic music — through creating milieus instead of beats and scenes and synth solos — that displaces Herndons complex debut, Movement, out of the ordinary and into a sphere that drastically surpasses any sort of conventional notion of sound.

Movement is more of a lucid chronicle of sounds as opposed to whats expected from the artists working within the increasing sphere of electronica: entertainment. The onset of opener Terminal is gradual and tense, while the most beat-driven track, Fade, manages to intensely toy with senses ranging from confusion to elation. Herndon’s vocals both chill and burn, oscillating between groans and fades to create space-age soundscapes, most notably with “Control And”.

Admittedly, Movement isnt entirely accessible to a vast, viral audience — particularly through the spine-crawling, post-drowning gasps of Breathe. Rather, its for the ones who glean satisfaction from simultaneously thinking and dancing. Futuristic and still visceral, even sexual, Movement‘s strength gleans itself from the subtleties. A revolutionary minimalist debut, Movement traces the origin of shadows instead of the light.